Baby Yoga

I went to get Stockton from a nap this morning and found him sitting up. I think the time is close at hand where we will have to lower the crib mattress.

He also performs many a yoga move as he tries to get from place to place. Among them are:

 table top,

 upward facing dog,

 downward dog split,

 plank,

and downward dog face plant.

He realizes that he can roll to get anywhere he needs. When on his stomach, he pushes off with his feet while rolling onto his side. He then assesses his position and what he needs to do next to get any closer to his toy. Or his mom.

We've got quite the handsome man on our hands! Let him lose his rolls and the girls are gonna go wild! Actually, I know a few who go wild already...

D, E, F, and G

Because of all the playmates he's had, the next four letters of the alphabet that we've been doing have been really spread out. Perhaps we'll finally get to "H" tomorrow.

"D" Day  

We drew, he traced dots in a "D" shape, made a dog puppet, had a dance party, and--are you ready for this?--cut open a diaper (a clean one, of course!) and dumped the powdery, sugar-like stuff into a cup of water and watched it expand into gel. Cam had actually done that for a science experiment in class and suggested it to us. Pretty cool.

"E" Day

We dyed eggs for this one. Parker chose the colors and how long we should keep them in the cups. Then we peeled the eggs and had egg salad sandwiches for lunch. We also learned about elk, elephants, and eagles. I love it when I'M intellectually stimulated, too!

 

"F" Day

 "F" was kind of a downer just because I was sewing a bean bag for Sunday's singing time and packing and organizing for my Slumber Party I had in Riverton that weekend. Despite all of that, we made origami frogs, read books about frogs, went fishing (magnets and paper and string) and made fruit snacks... that didn't turn out. :( Oh, well. They tasted okay and he got the idea.

"G" Day

"G" was VERY spread out. Each day was kind of a halfhearted push toward doing anything with the letter because of play dates and such. We watched the garbage truck last Tuesday, we read, "The Gingerbread Man" and made gingerbread man dough on Friday, actually ate them on Saturday, learned to play the guitar a little bit on Monday, and watched the garbage truck again yesterday (Tuesday). Not much for "G". But we'll get back into it!

Playmates!

Parker has been spoiled with playmates lately! His uncle, Nate, came over for a few days at the beginning of April; his cousins, Konner and Mallory, came to play from Thursday to Sunday mid-April; and we've had fun babysitting little Olive Campbell from 8am to noon on Mondays and Wednesdays while her mom finishes her last two weeks of work.

Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures, but let it suffice when I say that Parker and Olive had crazy amounts of fun running and laughing from room to room, reading books, playing cars, and playing our keyboard.

I was feeding Stockton some baby food in the kitchen when Olive came to me saying, "I wanna floss. I wanna floss."
Confused, I put down the spoon and followed her as she led me toward our bedroom. As I entered the hallway, I saw Parker, holding something in his mouth. A trail of floss was attached to Parker's hands and was strung...all...the...way...to our bathroom. Apparently, Olive had seen him flossing and wanted to floss, too. What can I say? We teach our kids good habits around here.

It's not a great picture, but you can kinda see the floss by his upper arm. It leads all the way to a drawer in our bathroom where it's still connected to the box.

Conference and Cori

First of all, General Conference was so wonderful. It always is, but this one had a very special feel to it. Part of it was, of course, the announcement of a...

TEMPLE IN CEDAR CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm only a little bit excited about that.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. I'm done. Wait...

IT'S STILL SO SURREAL!!! I CAN'T STAND IT!!! CAN IT REALLY BE TRUE?!

Okay, I'm really done now. My heart just gets a-pumping every time I think of, "Cedar City Temple".

Anyway, during Conference, I felt that my mind was cleared to make more room for the Spirit in my life, which is something I have felt that I desperately need lately. I had questions, and each of them were answered. Specifically. So miraculous.

My long lost bestie, Cori Beenfield, also came down with her two boys. It was awesome to go on walks again with her (pushin' our strollers like we always did), chat with her, and hear Logan (almost 2) and Parker laugh and scream with excitement together. 

One of the things that had us giggling was Logan calling, "Bah-bo!" And Parker would come running into the room, laughing his hardest. Only later did we realize that "Bah-bo" was Parker. 

Today, Parker stood by a door in the hallway, called, "Bah-bo!" to himself, and ran into his bedroom, smiling. He must miss Logan. I miss Cori, too, but we'll see them again this summer. Woot, woot!

"Logan, where's Parker?"

 

Ha, ha! We're such cheesers!

ABC

This idea came from a good friend of mine: Jody Findlay. Every day is assigned a letter and she teaches her kids certain things that have to do with that letter for that day. My thought: brilliant! I've since started doing my own "letter-a-day" thing. Parker has had a blast. At least, I think he has. I have. :)

~"A" Day~

YouTube is a wonderful thing. We watched a documentary on alligators, and then about ants. Boring for a 2 1/2 year old? Quite the contrary! He loved it SO much and was even talking to me about ants living off of honey dew and how the "meewee bugs"--mealybugs--are cared for by the ants. He learned a lot, and even I felt intellectually stimulated.
Afterward, we went on a walk and found an ant hill. We watched those ants FOREVER. And because we knew a little more about them, it was actually fascinating! Call me weird. Go 'head. Do it. :) I thought it was really cool.
Other activities included: coloring pictures that start with "A", reading an ABC book, and having apples with lunch. We also made airplanes out of toilet paper tubes and cardboard. He loved flying that thing around.

While we were on the topic of airplanes, I flew him around, too, pretending he was an airplane, which he thought was awesome. Unfortunately, my arms can only fly 26 lbs. around the room for a limited amount of time. Not long enough for him. :)

~"B" Day~

We watched clips about bees, and then about bears. Afterward, we made a bear puppet out of a paper bag. We put a tongue inside the "mouth" and he had fun opening it, making the puppet yell. :)

We also made burritos for lunch, made/blew bubbles, and played with some balloons.

~"C" Day~

Today has been "C" Day. I'm thinking this is going to be Parker's favorite letter. Why? Because "C" stands for CARS. That's how the day started. We played cars. He asks to do this every day, but today I made it a point to really play with him. And for as long as he wanted. It's funny to hear the things he has his cars say.

"C" also stands for... CAMPING! We set up a tent (well, of sorts) in the living room, made a fire pit out of socks, and had an orange balloon be our fire (no judging). Parker has much to learn about camping, I think. This isn't the real deal, honey! ;)
For lunch, we ate our chicken nuggets and carrots over our "fire" and made some no-bake cookies afterward. "C" is a yummy letter.

We also made our own clay (simply flour, salt, water, and food coloring) and had fun making snakes and the letter "C", and cutting it into little pieces.

 

The "letter-a-day" thing has really helped me actually play with Parker. It has also given me ideas for things to do with him and has helped me keep a bit more intellectually stimulated. He learns (a lot more than I give him credit for!) and I learn, too.

A goal I want to make for this is to not regurgitate ideas from the Internet. I want to do my own thing. Ha. We'll see how this goes!

Tired of Easter

This is what made the Easter bunny successful this year: 1pm church and a full belly. 

Pretty easy to hide eggs...

He wasn't happy--at all-- when we woke him up, forced a basket into his hands, and told him to look for eggs and candy that his bleary, little eyes claimed were nonexistent.

But candy and egg painting made everything better. Doesn't it always?